Closures for containers to make the same non-refillable



July 15, 1958 J. T. VELIZ 2,843,282

CLOSURES FOR CONTAINERS TO MAKE THE SAME NON-REFILLABLE Filed May 2, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. .TOS'E' TORRES VELIZ CLOSURES FOR CONTAINERS TO MAKE THE SAME NON-REFILLABLE Filed May 2. 1955 J. T. VELIZ July 15, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. .TOEE TORRES VHLIZ.

United States CLOSURES FOR CQONTAINERS TO MAKE THE SAME NON-REFHLLAELE Jos Torres Veliz, Havana, Cuba Application May 2, 1955, Serial No. 505,495

4 Claims. (Cl. 215-22) This invention relates to improvements in closures and more particularly to the type of covers used on bottles and similar containers to avoid adulteration of its contents.

A principal object of the invention is to provide certain improvements which tend to cause a better functioning of said cover.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a very practical, efficient and economical closure or cover for a bottle or like container.

Various further and more specific objects, features and advantages will clearly appear from the detailed description given below taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which form part of this specification and illustrate merely by Way of example a certain embodiment of the device of the invention.

The invention consists in the novel features, arrangements and combinations of parts as may be shown and described in connection with the device herein disclosed by Way of example only and as illustrative of a certain preferred embodiment.

In the following description and in the claims, parts will be identified by specific means for convenience, but such names are intended to be as generic in their application to similar parts as the art will permit. Like references and characters denote like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

The cover or closure comprising an embodiment consists of four internal parts or members contained within an external body formed by two hollow pieces which join or couple together. Three of these internal parts or members are lodged within the lower hollow piece of the external body, and the fourth internal member is lodged within the upper piece of said external body.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of a cap of the dischar ing mouth of the cover;

Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5, are top, bottom, side and sectional views, respectively, of the upper hollow piece of the external body of the cover;

Figs. 6 and 6a show a detail view and a side view, respectively, of the valve of the cover;

Figs. 7 and 7a show respectively a top view and a side view of the internal member which is lodged in the upper hollow piece of the external body of the cover;

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of the lower hollow piece of the external body of the cover; Fig. 8a is a similar view;

Fig. 9 is a View of the ball or floating sphere which normally sits on the valve;

Fig. 10 is a sectional view of the valve seat;

Fig. 10a is a view similar to Fig. 10;

Fig. 11 is a longitudinal sectional view on a larger scale, of the assembled cover, in an inverted position; and

Fig. 12 is a similar view to Fig. 11, but with the cover in a position upwardly inclined.

Referring now in more detail to the drawings, and particularly with reference to Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5, it can be 2,843,282 Patented July 15, 1958 seen that the upper hollow portion or piece A of the external body has three cylindrical coaxial sections of different diameters; namely, an upper section 1 of a small diameter (which constitutes the discharging mouth); a central section 2 of a larger diameter than that of the upper section 1; and a lower section 3 of a slightly larger diameter than that of the central section 2.

The lower section 3 of the portion A has in its inside face an annular recess 4. The mouth or upper section ll of said portion A is divided internally by means of. two partitions 5 and 6 which cross each other and extend internally until they penetrate slightly within the central section 2, and extend laterally until abutting against the wall of said section 2, as may be-seen in Figs. 3 and 5. The hollow lower portion or piece B of the external body of the cover, which can be seen'in detail in Figs. 8, 11 and 12, is cylindrical, of a smaller diameter than section 2 of portion A, and has at its top end a flange 7 directed outwardly and of a diameter such as to adjust by pressure in the annular recess 4 of section 3 of the aforesaid portion A. The external portion B is provided with a series of equidistant wedges 3, and directed downward from their top ends.

Within the lower hollow external portion or piece B, a floating ball or sphere it is loosely lodged, being preferably a hollow plastic ball (Fig. 9) which seats upon a valve 9 formed by a disc or valve head 9b with several guiding legs it) which pass through the inner conduit of a valve seat 9d. The ball or floating sphere ll is of a smaller diameter than that of the cylindrical body 8,

but it can not go out through the upper end of said piece B because of the salient extremes (which are the upper ones) of the wedge shaped members 8, the latter acting as stops and guides.

The valve seat ha is formed by a hollow member with open ends, shown in Fig. 10, which has three cylindrical coaxial portions; namely, a lower portion 12, an inter mediate portion $.39 of a smaller diameter, and an upper portion 114 of a still smaller diameter than that of the intermediate portion 13.

The pieces of members of the cover being correctly set, the guiding legs it of the valve 9, go through the upper end of the valve seat, and the valve seats upon said portion lid of the valve seat, as may be seen in Fig. 12. (The diameter of the valve head 9b is equal to that of the portion 14 of the valve seat 9.)

The intermediate portion 13 of the valve seat is of a diameter substantially equal to the inner diameter of the external piece B, so that it could be introduced by pressure through the lower open end of said piece B until the portion 12 of the valve seat abuts against the lower edge of said external piece B, as can be seen in Figs. 11 and 12.

The diameter of the floating ball or sphere 11 is such that when the cover is already set and being in a normal position, said ball rests upon the valve head 9b which sits upon the upper end of the valve seat 9a. When the cover is made to take an inverted position, as shown in Fig. 11, the ball or sphere 11 moves until it abuts or engages the salient top ends of the wedge shaped members 8, and the valve 9 also moves in a similar way until it abuts against said floating sphere 11, leaving the upper end of the valve seat 9a open.

A conical or frustum shaped member 15 is lodged within the upper hollow piece A of the external body.

This conical piece or member 15 has its large diameter end or base provided with a flange in which a series of notches 16 are formed. When the cover or closure is in an inverted position, the base of the conical member 15 rests upon the crossed partitions 5 and 6, so that the conduit of the discharging mouth 1 will not be obstructed. The diameter at the base of said conical piece or member 15, is slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the cylindrical portion 2 of the external piece A, but larger than that of the mouth 1. The tapered end portion of said piece 15 enters through the upper open end of the external piece B, and its apex end rests upon the floating ball 11.

The cover being set, it is placed in a bottle by introducing the valve seat with the piece B, into the neck of the bottle, until the flange 7 sits upon or engages the spout of the bottle, and then the common seal is applied, so as to prevent the cover being taken out or separated from the bottle without breaking the seal. In normal position, the valve 9 rests upon the portion 14 of the valve seat 9a, covering the upper open end of the latter, and being secured or strengthened by the weight of the ball 11 which sits upon said valve. In this manner, liquid that may be poured through the mouth 1, could not pass to the inside of the bottle.

If the bottle is placed in a horizontal position, with the intention of introducing a liquid from the outside, the result would be that while the liquid reaches the interior of the piece B, the floating ball or sphere 11 would float and move upward floating until abutting against the wedges 8 which are above, and due to their wedge shape, the floating ball would be displaced against the valve 9, forcing it to abut against the portion 14 of the valve seat 9a, thus preventing the liquid from entering into the bottle.

Should the bottle, and thereby the cover, be inverted to the position shown in Fig. 11, the conical piece 15 falls upon the lower extensions of the partitions 5 and 6; the ball or sphere 11 falls also, and so does the valve 9 which leaves the upper end of the valve seat open. Un-

der these conditions, the liquid in the bottle passes the interior of the valve-seat 9a and towards the piece B,

from which it flows around the ball 11 and between the wedge members 8 to the piece A, striking against the conical piece 15, and going through its notches 16 towards the discharging mouth 1, from which the liquid pours from the device. By returning the bottle to its normal position, the internal members or pieces of the cover fall back again, and the upper end of the valve seat 9a becomes covered again by the valve 9.

Now, if the empty bottle is placed in an inverted position, so that the valve 9 falls, leaving the conduit of the valve seat open, with the intention of introducing liquid from without by means of pressure through the mouth 1, in order to fill the bottle, while the liquid is filling the piece B the ball or floating sphere 11 will come up floating, and so pushing the disc valve 9 upward until the latter covers the conduit of the valve seat, thus preventing the liquid penetrating the bottle.

The crossed partitions 56 makes more difficult the introduction of an instrument into the cover in order to raise the valve 9. But even, by introducing any wire 5 through the mouth 1, it would strike immediately against the upper end of the piece 15, whose area is larger than that of the conduit of'the discharging mouth 1, thus making it practically impossible for the wire to pass further into the cover to hook the valve, and, consequently, it is impossible to refill the bottle.

To cover the discharging mouth 1, a cap 17 is provided with a double concentric wall, as shown in Fig. 1.

With the exception of the protective conical piece 15, which will be made preferably of porcelain, all the other pieces of the cover are preferably made of plastic material. The valve seat 9a is adhesively or otherwise Secured to the piece B, and piece B is likewise secured to the piece A.

While the invention has been described with respect to a certain particular preferred example which gives satisfactory results, it will be understood by those skilled in the art after understanding the invention, that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and it is intended, therefore, in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

I claim:

1. A closure for a container or the like to make the some non-refillable, comprising two engaging hollow portions, one of said portions being adapted to' project within 7 the container, the other of said portions being adapted to project without the container and being provided with a discharging mouth, a valve seat and a cooperating slidable valve within said one of said portions, wedge shaped elements projecting from said one of said hollow portions, a spherical member operable within said one of said hollow portions and engageable with said valve, said spherical member being limited in its movement by said wedge shaped elements, and a substantially frustum shaped member operable in said other of said hollow portions and projectable within said one of said hollow portions and having its apex end externally engageable with said spherical member, the base of said frustum shaped member having a plurality of notches.

2. A closure according to claim 1, wherein means are arranged within said discharging mouth of said other of said hollow portions and extend inwardly thereof to limit the movement of the frustum shaped member toward the said discharging mouth.

3. A closure according to claim 1, wherein said slidable valve comprises a disc-shaped valve head engageable with said spherical member and having extended legs guided in a member having said valve seat.

4. A closure for a container or the like to make the same non-refillable, comprising two engaging hollow portions, the first of said portions being adapted to project within the container, the other of said portions being adapted to project without the container, the said other hollow portion comprising three cylindrical coaxial sections of different diameters, the first section constituting the discharging mouth, another of said sections constitutr ing the central section of a diameter larger than the diameter of said first named section, and a third section connected to the central section and of a slightly larger diameter than that of said central section, the first of said sections being divided into two intersecting partitions which extend slightly within said central section and extending laterally in substantial abutting relation with the wall of said central section, wedge shaped elements projecting from said one of said hollow portions and en gageable with saidvalve, said spherical member being limited in its movement by said wedge shaped elements, and a substantially frustum shaped member operable in said other of said hollow portions and projectable within said one of said hollow portions and having its apex end engageable with said spherical member, the base of said frustum shaped member having a plurality of openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,430,790 Tahney Nov. 11, 1947 2,579,460 Archidiacano Dec. 25, 1950 2,598,024 Veliz May 27, 1952 2,750,061 Greene June 12, 1956 

